Actor Cooper's detecting lesson leads to gold find

When actor Charlie Cooper offered to teach a friend metal detecting, he did not expect his pupil to find gold on his first attempt.

Cooper jumped at the chance to go detecting with Matt Bell, who had secured permission to explore fields near his home in Saffron Walden, Essex on 5 March.

"He calls over and says, 'I think I might have something good here,' and I was like, 'Don't wind me up'," said the star of BBC TV's This Country.

Bell had found an Iron Age gold coin known as a stater, which he described as "rose gold, quite small... it had this amazing horse with black studs".

"The field was quite claggy and this just came out and was so clean - it was just sitting on this mound of earth," he added.

Cooper, who lives in Gloucestershire, admitted he had been dreaming of such a find ever since he took up the hobby.

"As soon as I saw the abstract Celtic horse design on the coin, I just dropped to my knees," he said.

"When you're feeling it in your hands, it is fairly indescribable to be honest, because these are only things you ever see behind glass at a museum."

Bell, an assistant director who met Cooper while working on This Country, said: "There were some swear words, but it was more like he told me off, in a nice way - like an angry school teacher."

That was because he was "quite nonchalant and casual" about the discovery, said Cooper, telling Bell: "It felt lost on you, in a way".

The pair went to the pub to celebrate, sending The Detectorist star Mackenzie Crook a picture.

"He immediately rang saying, 'How the hell did you get your hands on that?'," said Bell.

Cooper believes the tiny coin, which has been reported to the Essex finds liaison officer so it can be logged on the Portable Antiquities database, dated to about AD10 to 43, made during the reign of Cunobelinus.

The actor became an "absolutely obsessed detectorist" about 18 months ago, while working on the BBC Three series Myth Country, which explores British folklore.

"I've always loved history and this is a hobby that completely brings it alive," he said.

Bell picked up some basic metal detecting techniques while working on the BBC hit TV series The Detectorists, but that was a while ago.

"Charlie used to put his finds on a [WhatsApp] group and I found it quite interesting," said Bell, so he asked Cooper to share his expertise.

The actor suggested there might be more than beginner's luck behind the find.

"The day before, I was in London, going around the British Museum and I sent him a picture of a hoard of Iron Age gold staters and said, 'Manifesting for tomorrow.'," said Cooper.

"So, there you go. Although I didn't manifest it for myself, I manifested it for him."

The pair hope the find will be donated to a museum.

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